The Supreme Court has ruled that a 76-year-old man should be held legally responsible for lending his name to register SIM cards, some of which were later used for phone scams, overturning a lower court’s decision that cleared him of all charges.
The man, identified by his surname Yoo, was approached by a mobile phone dealer in 2020 and offered a small cash reward in exchange for registering prepaid SIM cards under his name. Yoo registered nine SIM cards and received between 20,000 won ($14) and 30,000 won per card.
The dealer was found to have acquired 7,000 SIM cards through various individuals including Yoo, and resold some to voice phishing rings. Prepaid SIM cards have been widely exploited in such scams due to their ability to be used anonymously after setup.
While the dealer claimed the SIMs were merely used for boosting sales figures, Yoo’s actions violated the Telecommunications Business Act, which bans people from establishing a telecommunication connection under their names for another person to use. Violations can be subject to up to one year in prison or 50 million won fine.
Lee was initially fined 1 million won by the Daejeon District court, but the appellate court cleared him of charges. It said the defendant's old age and disability could have clouded his judgement, and it is likely that him registering the SIM was purely out of kindness and in faith of the dealer's promise not to transfer them to anyone else.
The Supreme Court, however, reversed and remanded the case, saying that Yoo demonstrates no cognitive issues despite his physical condition.
"It could be sufficiently said that Yoo could have known that the sim cards were to be provided for other people's telecommunications service, or at least there was a possibility for them to be used in that manner," the court said in its ruling.
The case will be reviewed again at the appellate court.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
